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Carlisle in Cumberland County, Pennsylvania — The American Northeast (Mid-Atlantic)
 

Ashland Soldiers' Lot

 
 
Ashland Cemetery Soldiers' Lot Marker image. Click for full size.
Photographed By Cosmos Mariner, June 11, 2019
1. Ashland Cemetery Soldiers' Lot Marker
Inscription.
Carlisle At War (center panel)
After Confederate forces fired on Fort Sumter, South Carolina, in April 1861, the men of Carlisle responded to the national calls to put down the southern rebellion. Four companies of Pennsylvania infantry and five cavalry companies were organized here. Carlisle Army Barracks, just outside of town, included a Quartermaster and Ordnance Depot, and U.S. Cavalry training facility.

The Civil War reached Carlisle in June 1863. Confederate cavalry briefly occupied the town, taking from its citizenry supplies for both men and horses. Soon after, Confederate infantry arrived at the deserted U.S. Army barracks. Within a few days the rested and fed Confederates departed.

On July 1, Union forces set up artillery in Carlisle. When Confederate forces arrived and demanded their surrender, they declined. The Confederates burned Carlisle Barracks that night and departed. After the Battle of Gettysburg, 50 miles to the south, buildings at Dickenson College and many others in town served as temporary hospitals.


Civil War Dead (left panel)
An estimated 700,000 Union and Confederate soldiers died in the Civil War (1861-1865). As the death toll rose, the U.S. government struggled with the urgent but unplanned need to bury fallen Union troops. This propelled
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the creation of a national cemetery system.

On September 11, 1861, the War Department directed officers to keep "accurate and permanent records of deceased soldiers." Federal authority to create military burial grounds came in an Omnibus Act of July 17, 1862. Cemetery sites were chosen where troops were concentrated: camps, hospitals, battlefields, railroad hubs. By 1872, 74 national cemeteries and several soldiers' lots contained 305,492 remains. About 45 percent were unknown.

The U.S. government established soldiers' lots at private cemeteries in northern states. National cemeteries, in contrast, were built throughout the South where most Civil War action occurred. While the army reported dozens of lots containing Union dead in the 1870s, the National Cemetery Administration maintains only fifteen. The number of graves ranges from less than ten to nearly 400 in these lots.


Military Burials (right panel)
Ashland Cemetery was established in 1865 on 12 acres. The soldiers' lot was acquired by the federal government in March 1866. An 1870 army inspection reported thirty-eight graves in the rectangular 0.2-acre lot. In May 1871, burials from Carlisle Barracks Post Cemetery were moved here. More than 300 sets of remains were recovered, far more than expected.

In the 1930s, the army tried to determine the number of unknown dead
Marker detail: Mourners at Alexandria National Cemetery, Virginia, c. 1865 image. Click for full size.
Miller, Photographic History of the Civil War (1910)
2. Marker detail: Mourners at Alexandria National Cemetery, Virginia, c. 1865
After 1873, standard marble headstones replaced the wood headboards seen here.
buried in the north end of the lot in order to erect a monument on the mass grave. Eventually, a standard government headstone, inscribed "500 Unknown U.S. Soldiers," was installed. Later research identified thirty-five of the dead. A granite monument with a bronze plaque inscribed with these names replaced the headstone in 1960.

Today, the soldiers' lot contains twenty-three individual graves. Civil War Medal of Honor recipient Pvt. Jacob Cart, 7th Pennsylvania Reserve Infantry, is memorialized here. He captured a Confederate regimental flag at Fredericksburg, Virginia, on December 13, 1862 (Section 22, Row D, Site 24).
 
Erected by U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, National Cemetery Administration.
 
Topics and series. This memorial is listed in these topic lists: Cemeteries & Burial SitesPatriots & PatriotismWar, US Civil. In addition, it is included in the National Cemeteries series list.
 
Location. 40° 11.933′ N, 77° 10.703′ W. Marker is in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, in Cumberland County. Memorial can be reached from York Road (Pennsylvania Route 74) south of Ashland Avenue, on the right when traveling south. Marker is located at the north end of Ashland Cemetery Soldiers' Lot, which is located in Section D
Marker detail: Confederate forces attack Carlisle<br>June, 1863 image. Click for full size.
Photographed By Harper's Weekly Magazine (July 25, 1863)
3. Marker detail: Confederate forces attack Carlisle
June, 1863
(west side) of Ashland Cemetery. Touch for map. Marker is in this post office area: Carlisle PA 17013, United States of America. Touch for directions.
 
Other nearby markers. At least 8 other markers are within walking distance of this marker. 500 U.S. Soldiers of the Civil War are Here Interred (a few steps from this marker); Confederate Artillery in Carlisle (about 600 feet away, measured in a direct line); Seven Gables Park (about 800 feet away); St. Patrick's Church (approx. 0.4 miles away); Saint Patrick Church & Cemetery (approx. 0.4 miles away); Saint Katharine's Hall (approx. 0.4 miles away); Bethel A.M.E. Church (approx. 0.4 miles away); Gen. William Irvine (approx. half a mile away). Touch for a list and map of all markers in Carlisle.
 
Also see . . .
1. Ashland Cemetery Soldiers' Lot. The soldiers buried here were stationed at Carlisle Barracks, one of the oldest military posts in the United States. Initially, the dead from Carlisle Barracks were interred in a post cemetery. In March 1866, the federal government purchased approximately 0.25 acres of land in Ashland Cemetery, and by 1871, the War Department transferred the remains from the post cemetery to the government plot in Ashland Cemetery. (Submitted on June 11, 2019, by Cosmos Mariner of Cape Canaveral, Florida.) 

2. Ashland Cemetery Soldiers' Lot. The soldiers’ lot in Ashland Cemetery contains one
Marker detail: Ashland Cemetery, 1872 image. Click for full size.
National Archives and Records Administration
4. Marker detail: Ashland Cemetery, 1872
Detail from Atlas of Cumberland County, Pennsylvania (1872) showing Ashland Cemetery. The soldiers' lot is located on the west perimeter.
Inset: View of south end of lot in 1935. The mass grave is located beyond the cannon.
mass grave of 500 Union soldiers, only 35 of whom are identified. In addition to the mass grave, 23 individual graves are in the lot. Nineteen of these Union soldiers are identified, with four unknown. (Submitted on June 12, 2019, by Cosmos Mariner of Cape Canaveral, Florida.) 
 
Ashland Soldiers' Lot Marker<br>(<i>wide view • marker overlooks lot from the north end</i>) image. Click for full size.
Photographed By Cosmos Mariner, June 11, 2019
5. Ashland Soldiers' Lot Marker
(wide view • marker overlooks lot from the north end)
Ashland Soldiers' Lot Flag Pole & Plaque<br>(<i>located about 50 yards south of marker</i>) image. Click for full size.
Photographed By Cosmos Mariner, June 11, 2019
6. Ashland Soldiers' Lot Flag Pole & Plaque
(located about 50 yards south of marker)
500 Soldiers of the U.S. Civil War Monument<br>(<i>located about 10 yards south of the marker</i>) image. Click for full size.
Photographed By Cosmos Mariner, June 11, 2019
7. 500 Soldiers of the U.S. Civil War Monument
(located about 10 yards south of the marker)
Pvt. Jacob Cart, Civil War Medal of Honor Recipient image. Click for full size.
Photographed By Cosmos Mariner, June 11, 2019
8. Pvt. Jacob Cart, Civil War Medal of Honor Recipient
Ashland Soldiers' Lot (<i>looking north from southeast corner • about 100 yards south of marker</i>) image. Click for full size.
Photographed By Cosmos Mariner, June 11, 2019
9. Ashland Soldiers' Lot (looking north from southeast corner • about 100 yards south of marker)
 
 
Credits. This page was last revised on June 12, 2019. It was originally submitted on June 11, 2019, by Cosmos Mariner of Cape Canaveral, Florida. This page has been viewed 227 times since then and 12 times this year. Photos:   1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6. submitted on June 11, 2019, by Cosmos Mariner of Cape Canaveral, Florida.   7, 8, 9. submitted on June 12, 2019, by Cosmos Mariner of Cape Canaveral, Florida.

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Mar. 28, 2024